The present invention relates to an iron for straightening curly hairs.
There has been practiced among beauty parlors a process for straightening curly hairs, which may be kinky hairs or curled by permanent waving, into straight hairs. According to the practice, a relaxer solution is applied to hair to break and remove cystine which is a binding substance in hair. It is relatively easy to straighten hairs curled by permanent waving back to original straight hairs. However, it is difficult to straighten originally curly hairs or kinky hairs since removal of the cystine loosens the pigment and cuticle, losing hair luster and gloss.
To solve the foregoing problem, as much cystine as possible should be retained in hairs and it is believed that curly hairs can be straightened by thermal treatment. Curling irons presently available for thermal treatment of hairs are however designed for curling straight hairs, but unable to straighten curly hairs. The inventor has made a study to devise a suitable iron structure for use in hair straightening and determine at what temperature hairs should be treated for being straightened. The inventor has experimentally confirmed that when curly hairs with binding by cystine being released or loosened are heated by an iron, the cystine in the curly hairs can be stretched to straighten the hair, and the iron should be of a construction capable of heating hairs while they are being curled and stretched.